The Sin Offering

by R.F. LUNDWILL,Vancouver, B.C. | Category: General | Nov 1962

The sin offering was God's provision to make atonement for acts which were sinful, in contrast to the burnt offering which made atonement for man who was by nature a sinner. There were four distinct grades of people dealt with in the Sin Offering: (1) the priests, (2) the whole congregation, (3) the ruler or prince, and (4) one of the common people. The Sin Offering was God's provision for sin committed unwittingly.

In the case of the priest the conditions prevailing in presenting the Sin Offering are sevenfold. He was -

(1)to bring a young bullock without blemish unto the door of the tent of meeting;

(2)to lay his hand upon the head of the bullock;

(3)to kill it;

(4)to take the bullock's blood to the tent of meeting and sprinkle it seven times before the veil of the sanctuary, and to put of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense;

(5)to pour the residue of the blood at the base of the altar of Burnt Offering;

(6)to burn all the internal fat with the kidneys upon the altar of Burnt Offering; and

(7)to carry the whole of the remainder of the animal outside the camp and there burn it.

How wondrously complete was Christ's sacrifice for sin at Calvary! He fulfilled God's requirements in every detail and satisfied God's claims. The blood was to be sprinkled seven times before the veil of the sanctuary. We see in this the efficacy of the blood of Christ to remove sin from before God, and also sin from the conscience of the offerer. The efficacy of the blood is such that it cleanses from all sin.

Sin upon the conscience of the priest would prevent him from enjoying communion with God. This condition would continue until it was dealt with in God's provision in the blood of the Sin Offering. When atonement had been made then communion was restored, and the fragrance ascended to Him. How necessary to possess that holy sensitiveness of committed sin, that we may quickly avail ourselves of God's provision, in order that this fragrance may not be hindered from ascending to God!

The residue of the blood was to be poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. The blood would answer the claims of God at the base of the altar, the place of death, and declare that they had been fully met. The altar was the place where God met the sinner. The priest was to take all the internal fat of the offering and offer it upon the altar of burnt offering. The burnt offering, as has been noted under that heading, is the "acceptance offering." The offerer found acceptance before God in the burnt offering. The priest by the sin offering was to know forgiveness.

The whole of the remains of the bullock was to be carried without the camp into a clean place, and there burnt where the ashes were poured out. A distinction is to be noted at this point. In the law of the sin offering (Leviticus 6.24-80) it is declared that the priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it (verse 26). However, no Sin Offering of which the blood was brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place was to be eaten: it was to be burnt without the camp (verse 30). The sin offering was to be killed in the place where the burnt offering was killed.

The blood of sin offering for the ruler or one of the common people was not to be brought into the sanctuary, it was put upon the horns of the copper altar.

The burning of sin offering outside the camp is linked with Christ's crucifixion outside the gates of Jerusalem. In John 19.

16-18 we read, "They took Jesus therefore: and He went out, bearing the cross for Himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified Him." In other Gospels we note that He was led. It was a place of rejection, for here Christ suffered, here He died, forsaken by God, rejected by man. Here we see the fulfilment of Isaiah 53.10, "It pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin". Here is the place to which the child of God must go, in disciple-like character, if he desires to follow Christ. "Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Hebrews 13.18).

R.F. LUNDWILL,Vancouver, B.C. | Nov 1962
General